Lifeboat Foundation

How can the metal content of stars influence the formation of Earth-like exoplanets? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the minimum amount of metals a star can possess (also called metallicity) that are needed for Earth-like planets to form in small orbits like our own. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the necessary conditions for Earth-like exoplanets to form, along with gaining new insights into the formation and evolution of other exoplanets.

This research builds off previous studies that hypothesized a correlation between star’s low metallicity and the formation of exoplanets smaller than Saturn or Neptune. For this new study, the researchers used computer models built from exoplanet data obtained by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission to ascertain a metallicity cutoff where the formation of Earth-like exoplanets become impossible. In the end, the researchers indicated that a threshold between-0.75 and-0.5 metallicity is where Earth-like exoplanets can form.

“In a similar stellar type as our sample, we now know not to expect planet formation to be abundant once you pass a negative 0.5 metallicity region,” said Dr. Kiersten Boley, who recently completed her PhD at The Ohio State University and is lead author of the study. “That’s kind of striking because we actually have data to show that now. You don’t want to search areas where life wouldn’t be conducive or in areas where you don’t even think you’re going to find a planet. There’s just a plethora of questions that you can ask if you know these things.”

Imagine aliens finding the golden record only to search earth and find a floating sign in space saying “301 moved permanently”.

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The secrets of black holes and dark matter could lie before the Big Bang, a new study of “bouncing” cosmology hints.

An exploration of new findings regarding the last universe common ancestor of life, or LUCA, and abiogenesis in general.

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“For the most part, we think of the deep sea as a place where decaying material falls down and animals eat the remnants. But this finding is recalibrating that dynamic,” said Dr. Jeffrey Marlow.

What can deep ocean life teach us about finding life on other worlds? This is what a recent study published in Nature Geoscience hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated how “dark oxygen” —which is oxygen produced without sunlight—is produced by deep sea creatures that reside within the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) which is approximately 12,000 to 18,000 feet beneath the ocean’s surface and completely dark. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the conditions for life and where else we might find these conditions on worlds outside Earth.

For the study, the researchers used deep-sea chambers on the seafloor to measure changes in oxygen levels, which the team initially hypothesized was caused by the microbial life and other creatures living between the rocks, the latter of which are millions of years old. Along with thinking the local life produced the oxygen, the team also hypothesized the life consumed it, as well, resulting decreased oxygen levels. However, after 48 hours of collecting data, the researchers the oxygen levels increased, indicating that something else was producing oxygen at these extreme depths so far from the Sun.

Continue reading “From Abyssal Depths to Astrobiology: How Dark Oxygen Is Shaping Our Understanding of Life” »

What were galaxies like in the early universe? This is what a recent study published in The Astronomical Journal hopes to address as an international team of researchers investigated the formation and evolution of galaxies in the early universe, as recent studies have suggested they were much larger than cosmology models had simulated. This study holds the potential to help researchers better understand the conditions in the early universe and how life came to be.

“We are still seeing more galaxies than predicted, although none of them are so massive that they ‘break’ the universe,” said Katherine Chworowsky, who is a PhD student at the University of Texas at Austin and lead author of the study.

For the study, the researchers used NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope to peer deep into the universe’s past and observe some of the earliest galaxies to ascertain their sizes and whether they are as massive as recent studies have suggested. After analyzing the data, the researchers discovered that black holes residing at the center of these galaxies are creating false brightness and sizes, meaning these galaxies are much smaller than previously thought, thus reducing the panic within the scientific community regarding cosmological models. However, this study does suggest further research is necessary regarding star formation and evolution within these galaxies.

A groundbreaking study has revealed that red dwarf stars can produce stellar flares that carry far-ultraviolet (far-UV) radiation levels much higher than previously believed. This discovery suggests that the intense UV radiation from these flares could significantly impact whether planets around red dwarf stars can be habitable. Led by current and former astronomers from the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy (IfA), the research was recently published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

“Few stars have been thought to generate enough UV radiation through flares to impact planet habitability. Our findings show that many more stars may have this capability,” said astronomer Vera Berger, who undertook the study while in the Research Experiences for Undergraduates program at IfA, an initiative supported by the National Science Foundation.

Berger and her team used archival data from the GALEX space telescope to search for flares among 300,000 nearby stars. GALEX is a now-decommissioned NASA mission that simultaneously observed most of the sky at near-and far-UV wavelengths from 2003 to 2013. Using new computational techniques, the team mined novel insights from the data.

The search for extraterrestrial life has profound physical, mental and spiritual implications, says Nathalie Cabrol in The Secret Life of the Universe —and it belongs to everyone.

By Zane Wolf

Planetary Science Innovation For All Humanity — Professor Dr. Dan Blumberg Ph.D. — Vice-President for Regional and Industrial Development — Ben-Gurion University of the Negev — Chair, Israel Space Agency.

Professor Dr. Dan Blumberg, Ph.D. is the Vice-President for Regional and Industrial Development at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU — https://www.blumberg.bgu.ac.il/), an elected Member of the International Academy of Astronautics, and Chair of the Israel Space Agency (https://www.space.gov.il/en), a position he was appointed to by the Ministry of Innovation, Science and Technology (https://www.gov.il/en/departments/min…) in 2022.

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